Antonio had dropped the phone so suddenly and from such a height that the phone shattered to pieces as it touched the ground. This startled Lovino. But he didn't think it could get any worse.

Antonio had his hands over his mouth, trying not to cry. "Antonio..? Is everything ok?" Antonio's shoulders shook up and down while his head was making left and right motions as if to say "no". "Antonio?" Lovino heard Antonio whisper something; but then it gradually became louder. "She's gone, Lovi... She's gone." It took Lovino only two seconds to realize what he had meant. Lovino ran to Antonio and wrapped him up in a hug, allowing Antonio to cry into his shoulder.

Antonio's crying calmed down but he was still a mess. They sat there on the floor, motionless, in silence. No words were needed. They both started to fall asleep, and Lovino didn't know if this was Antonio talking in his sleep, but even if it was, it still broke his heart to hear these words come out of Antonio. "I have no one else left..." Antonio fell asleep before Lovino did, and with what little strength Lovino had, he tried to carry Antonio to his own bedroom. Eventually, he got them both there and set Antonio on the bed. Lovino was unsure of what to do next, so he took Antonio's hand and held it; every now and then giving it a squeeze. He gently took Antonio's hand, kissing the back of it and softly putting it against his cheek, while tears went down his face which were surprisingly quiet this time. Just thinking of those words. "I have no one else left..."

Lovino woke up to himself in Antonio's bed. He could've sworn he was sitting next to him on the ground just early that morning, comforting him of his mothers passing. He was unsure of what had happened and hopped out quickly, finding Antonio no where in the house. He then found a note next to Antonio's bed on the nightstand. It read,

Went out for a walk; need some time to think. Thank you for everything.

Lovino yawned and sleepily grabbed his book from the couch, and headed home, leaving a note for Antonio explaining where he went because he needed to check on his own family. Lovino felt bad about writing "family" when Antonio had none. It was a Sunday afternoon. Lovino had spent almost the whole weekend at Antonio's house.

When Lovino walked into his own home, he saw Grandpa Roma about to head out and Feliciano lazily sleeping about. Grandpa Roma walked right past Lovino with just a simple "Afternoon, Lovi" and walked off. Not even asking where he was; which was good. But as soon as the door clicked shut to their house, Feliciano jumped off the couch. "Brother!" shouted Feliciano. "Christ, Feli, you almost gave me a heart attack." Feliciano walked to Lovino and studied him carefully. "Are you ok? You seem... drained." Lovino let out a long sigh, explaining everything that happend to him and Antonio. Well except the part for when they made out. He kept that a secret.

Feliciano was sighing heavily and kept saying "Poor Toni..." Lovino decided if he even wanted a decent nights sleep, he would have to go to bed right then and there to go to school tomorrow. "Feli, I stayed up quite late, you'll have to make yourself dinner or something, i'm going to go to bed." Feliciano nodded, walking off.

That night Lovino dreamed for the first time in a long time. It was him and Antonio. That's it. That's all he could remember. Just him. And Antonio. That's all he remembered because that's all that mattered at the moment. Antonio.

The next day, Lovino went to school and half expected Antonio to be there waiting for him in the library like usual. But not this time. "Where's Antonio, old chap?" questioned Arthur, with a clinging Alfred putting his arm behind his back. "I... don't know..." Lovino lied. "Old bugger; skipping like usual." Lovino wanted to slap this man. He had respect for Arthur, but if he had known why he was skipping, he would be ok with it. But partially, this was Lovino's fault. He didn't tell him what happened and he wasn't sure he was going to. Not unless Antonio said it was ok.

Antonio still didn't come back to school. After about 3 weeks, Lovino had enough. He needed to know how Antonio was. After school that day, he marched over to Antonio's house. He knocked on the door several times but to no prevail. He checked the knob to see if it was open and sure enough it was. Antonio wasn't in the living room and it didn't look like anything had changed. Had Antonio even come back? He looked at the coffee table where Lovino had left his note 3 long weeks ago. Still there. Lovino's heart raced. Where was Antonio?

Luckily, when Lovino proceeded to the back of the house, he saw Antonio curled up in his bed, still. Lovino knocked on the wall like Antonio once did when Lovino laid on the side of Mama Carriedo's bed. "Antonio..?" "Hm..." "I came... to check up on you. I mean, you haven't been to school in weeks; people were starting to worry - I was starting to worry." He heard Antonio sigh at this. A big, heavy, long sigh. "I can't do anything anymore, Lovi. I can't." Lovino sat down on Antonio's bed; Antonio facing the wall opposite of Lovino, not looking at him. He could tell he probably hadn't showered in 3 weeks either. "Lovi, please go away. I don't need this, not today. I don't want to hear a re encouraging speech."

"I'm not here to encourage you. I'm here to say this is bullshit." Antonio's head popped up off his pillow and his eyes narrowed. "Are you saying my mom was nothing?" His voice was sharp. Under his eyes, Lovino noticed really big bags. He wondered when was the last time Antonio had a good nights sleep. "No, Antonio. No." "Then what is it?" "Antonio's eyes softened after this, looking as if he were going to cry. "I'm saying what you're doing is bull. You can be sad, but please, at least try to piece yourself together. I'm going to be honest; I hate seeing you like this. I can't see you sad. I want to see you happy. But I won't tell you what to feel. It just pains me to see you like this. And what would your Mama think? Would she like to see you like this?" Lovino thought he was being very cliche right now; which in a way was true. But the next thing he knew, Antonio was sobbing and had his arm covering his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I just don't have anyone left. I don't know what to do anymore." Lovino hugged Antonio tightly. "You still have your friends; including me. And we're your family. And you still have us." Lovino didn't want to see Antonio like this anymore so he decide to help piece him. "We can start today. Go take a shower, I'll clean up." Antonio reluctantly got out of bed. When he got out, Lovino realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. But Antonio must've had a high metabolism. This boy was thin. "And I'll make you something to eat. What was the last thing you ate and when?" Taking a shirt out of his closet, he said "Paella." Lovino didn't even need to know when. The last time he had paella was when Lovino came to visit for dinner. That was over a month ago. How the time flies.

Lovino shook his head and got to work. Finally after a long needed shower, they both sat at the table with plates of pasta in front of them. "Don't judge; it's the best I could do on such short notice. You had nothing in your cabinets so I ran out to get some stuff." Antonio yawned and ate. Even though he said he wasn't that hungry, Antonio must've eaten more than half a pot. They talked a bit about school life and how everyone was wondering where he was but then Lovino suggested that Antonio should go to bed. "Already?" complained Antonio. "You need to get back on a regular sleeping schedule." said Lovino. Antonio seemed really hesitant about it. Lovino said he should go home and that Antonio should go to sleep. "Wait..." stopped Antonio. Lovino turned around.

"I was wondering... maybe... you could stay here? I haven't been able to sleep knowing I'm the only one in the house. It's been strange. I mean, you don't have to." Lovino sighed but agreed. Though he wasn't upset about staying. He would've rathered staying here than risking Antonio getting hurt. Lovino went to hull the chair from Mama Carriedo's previous room and Antonio asked "What are you doing with that?" "Well where do you expect me to stay, dumbass?" Antonio made a nervous, tenacious laugh. "Well, I thought maybe you'd sleep next to me in my bed?" Lovino blushed bright red at this comment and was making up excuses. "You're not doing it because you feel bad, right? You can keep the bed, really."

Lovino was babbling into his hands and Antonio picked up Lovino. "W-what?" Despite this boy looking malnourished from a month without food, he was still strong. "Please?" Lovino was flustered. "I-i but I can't I-" then he realized it was hopeless; besides, he kind of wanted to. "Fine." Antonio set Lovino down and they both got in the bed. It was early; only 8:00 PM but Antonio needed the sleep. A few minutes into laying down, Lovino felt arms around his chest. Antonio was spooning Lovino. This made Lovino's body temperature rise and he could feel himself blush. "Calm down," said Antonio. "How did you-" "Shhh... Just lay here." Lovino lay tense for a bit but then loosened up. Lovino could feel himself falling asleep. In fact, he could picture he and Antonio staying together for the rest of their lives. Lovino was fading fast. And the last words he heard from the night were three words in Antonio's voice.

It whispered, "I love you" .